"We are getting ready to play South Carolina. It's good to
be home playing between the hedges. We're playing in front of our fans and our
families. Of course most of our families make it to most of our away games as
well. South Carolina is a very good football team obviously. The last couple of
years they have won 11 ballgames and they've beaten us three years in a row. We
have a great challenge ahead of us. We have maybe a few redshirt seniors who
have been on a team that had a victory over South Carolina, but no one else has
had that distinction."

"It's a big game for both teams. Obviously it's the first
conference game for both teams to set the tone for the future. We don't have a
game next week. We have an open date, and there's not a whole lot we should be
holding back. We need to get better at a lot of things fundamentally We need to
be able to block better, tackle better, especially in space. That's what today
and tomorrow will be about in practice. Of course we'll be installing our game
plan as well. That's where we are."

"It depends on the snaps that you look at. There were times
where we couldn't have blocked plays better than we did and had some tremendous
results. Then there were times where we looked like we were in the first grade
out there. We were getting out of position, and there were a couple of holding
calls that really hurt us and some pass protection issues that we just didn't
handle very well. It just wasn't a consistent enough effort to do what we
really needed to do and put more points on the board. We had six drives that
were affected by penalties. On two of the six drives we overcame the penalty,
but we lost four drives to penalties. The offensive side of the ball is
supposed to be the mature side of the ball for us, but most of the penalties
were on offense. There was one pass interference on defense."

"There's a lot of different things you can do on pass
protection. One of the things is that if you slide your protection towards a
guy like that, you free up your tackle not to block him one-on-one. Your tackle
basically is responsible for taking him on an outside rush, but if he makes a
move inside of him, there will be a guard waiting for him, so that's one way.
Another way is to try to even put a tight end to the side that he's at and give
him a little bit more to navigate as he's coming through the line of scrimmage.
The other thing is to have a back or a tight end off the ball who can chip on
the way out. You can also design plays where you don't hold the ball very long.
Set your point, get up in the pocket and get the ball out quickly. There's
always your quick passing game where you may try to change up your blocking
technique with the cut block from time to time. That might give him something
to think about, but those are the things that you try to do. You can also
sprint your protection to or away from him or move the pocket from time to
time.

On the offensive line…

"Right now, (Kenarious Gates) will be our left tackle. I
think we still think that there's at least six guys that can play and deserve
to play, so I think part of our issue has been (Chris) Burnette coming off of surgery.
We haven't been wanting him to play the entire game necessarily. I'm not saying
he won't this week, but going into last week, we were wanting to give him some
relief throughout the game."

"I think Aaron overall played a pretty good game. The fumble
was disappointing. With the interception, if you've played quarterback and
coached it long enough, that type of thing is going to happen from time to
time. It was a good thing that they did schematically, and it just really
wasn't in his vision when he was making that decision. Every once in awhile
that will happen, so I'm not going crazy about the pick. When you work up in
the pocket, you have to be firm with the ball in your hand, and you're going to
get hit and tackled from time to time, so we can't spit the ball up. For the
most part he made good decisions. Being knocked around like he was and sacked
like he was, I thought he continued to go back in the pocket trusting it and
being able to make a big play on the next play. He created plays three times
where he broke out of the pocket, found guys and hit them on the run. He got us
in the right play most of the time, so overall he did well. I think Aaron just
has to continue to do what he does for us with getting us in the right plays
and the right protections. He just has to hit his target when it's there and
not turn a bad play into a catastrophe. Every once in awhile, it's a bad play,
so don't throw it up for grabs and if you do happen to get sacked, hang onto
the thing and I think he'll be fine."

"He's a good coach like most everybody in our league. I
think everybody in our league is a very good coach, otherwise they wouldn't be
here. He's mostly running their offense, but you study film and tendencies just
like you would anybody else. He doesn't coach defense or special teams, but
he's got a team that's playing hard. He's got a big, physical football team,
and they have an identity. Their identity is to play defense, run the ball real
physical, take some shots downfield and you saw it on the special teams. That's
been a good formula for victory."

On Kenarious Gates at
left tackle…

"I think Gates is a very good player. He is the guy that has
the best shot at matching up out there (with Clowney). We wouldn't be playing
him at left tackle if we didn't think he could do it. He went up against
Jadeveon a year ago, so it won't be like a first-time experience for him. He's
ready to go, and he's confident that he's going to play well, but we all know
that it's a 60-minute game. You probably have 200 plays in a game between
offense, defense and special teams, and every snap is a battle. You're going to
win some and lose some, but we think he gives us our best shot to succeed."

"You've got to be careful with him. The thing about Connor
is that he's going to run quarterback draw, he's going to run zone read and
he's going to run when it's not there in the passing game. It's kind of three
different types of runs for that kid, and you have to have a plan for all of
them. When you get a guy in a pocket, especially a guy like that, you have to
have some integrity in your rush lane. You can't just let guys totally
freelance or squeeze a guy. If you've got a guy that's not very mobile, you
don't mind your edge rusher every once in awhile to take it inside or beat a
tackler inside to the quarterback because if you flush him, the guy's not going
to do a lot of damage on you. You have to be much more careful with a guy like
that. You have to be concerned about who is truly containing the quarterback in
the pocket. Just like there's passing lanes up front, there are running lanes,
as well. If you play too much man coverage or too many combination coverages
where everybody is chasing the receivers, the quarterback can work his way up
inside the pocket and take off running, and then there's no one there. You just
have to have a good mix of zone coverages. If you are playing man, maybe you
just have one guy staying back at home spying so the quarterback just doesn't
have a free run."

"Josh being back is big for us. He'll be able to play in our
base and our nickel scheme. Corey Moore, we believe, will be back, too, so
we'll be able to insert Corey as well. We still don't want to lose the progress
that we think Leonard Floyd is making. We want him to continue to get a lot of
reps for us, so it's going to be a little bit of a challenge to get Leonard,
Corey, Josh Harvey-Clemons and Tray Matthews on the field at the same time, but
we'll figure it out."

On the challenges of
inserting a game plan each week…

"It's not that hard because as you're installing what you're
going to do, you just have to decide what type of tempo it's going to be. We'll
do some scrimmaging today, I'm sure, to help the fundamental part of it. It
just has to be a physical day for us. Tomorrow won't be a whole lot different,
quite frankly, because that's the type of battle we're going to be in. We had
our hands tied a little bit in camp with being down to very few safeties, and
it was kind of tough to get better when guys weren't practicing, but we have a
lot of healthy bodies right now. I think it's going to help us in practice with
physicality."

On the wide receivers…

"We already saw Justin Scott-Wesley begin to grow up towards
the end of last year. I thought he had a very good spring in camp, and then he
played well in this ball game. He not only played well as a receiver, but he
played very well on special teams. He was actually named our special teams
captain. Our captains for this game will be Justin Scott-Wesley on special
teams, Garrison Smith on defense and Arthur Lynch and Todd Gurley on offense.
But back to the receivers, we also got a little taste of (Rantavious) Wooten
being back, and Jonathon Rumph will be back this week practicing. Rhett McGowan
will be more ready to play this week than he was last week, so those are some
guys that will step up and play other than the usual suspects."

On Patrick Beless…

"Beless has done a very good job for us. He's been very
accurate in camp, and Adam Erickson was, as well. It was very close
competition, actually. I think both of them are capable, and either one of them
could possibly kick for us with either extra points or field goals.."

"Collin has enough leg, as you saw with the kickoffs. We've
worked him some as a field goal kicker because he does have distance. If you
had to have one from a long distance, like 50-plus yards, he has the leg to get
it there."

"You can't temper celebration. That would be a bad thing to
do for us. We've done a good job of that from time to time, and you have to
play with enthusiasm and injury. You have to celebrate with your teammates.
That's the thing about that injury – it's probably just as much that type
of thing (jumping up in celebration) than somebody actually getting hit. It was
sad for us, but I think Malcolm has a good attitude about it. Thomas Davis was
an All-American safety here and is now playing with the Panthers, and I think
he's the only NFL player that has had three ACL surgeries on the same knee and
returned to play. He played extremely well last year, and Thomas called him and
got on the phone with him a little bit just to help him out."

"He did very well for us (against Clemson). Josh was a guy
that was brought in as an outside linebacker, but his body grew up to more of
an end for us. He's a guy that's going to give us quality play and quality
snaps. We expect a lot of productivity out of him for the rest of the year and
the rest of his career."

On losing a game early
in the season…

"It's no fun to lose, and it's no fun to lose early. With
the type of schedule that we have, there's a risk of that. That's football, and
that's the way it is. We'd prefer not to be sitting like we were a couple years
ago after Boise State and South Carolina. We're going to do our best not to be
in that position, but the goal is to win the SEC Eastern Division. Obviously
everyone is in really good shape to do that across the league. Vanderbilt's the
only team that has a loss. Everyone in the East still has control of their own
destiny at this point, and that's really all you can hope for."

On the crowd noise
during games…

"We really do need our fan base to be a part of this game
because crowd noise is obviously a factor. It's not just in college, but it's
in the pro game, too. You've got guys that have been pros for years, and they're
still jumping offsides because they can't hear. We need our crowd to create
that type of atmosphere where it's going to be very difficult for South
Carolina's offense to operate. Part of the thing too with crowd noise is that
some of our pass protection issues had a little something to do with the crowd
noise at Clemson, in that if you don't have your verbal cadence, it's really
hard to mix up your snap count when you're running on a sign basis. When you do
it silently, the advantage that we have is to know when the ball's going to be
snapped and the defense really has an equal opportunity to get off on the snap.
Where if we're at home and we have the verbal, the ability to verbalize the
snap and change the count and keep people off balance will be an advantage. It
will also be a disadvantage for them not being able to alter their cadence. Our
crowd is crucial in this ballgame and any of our home games. You just never
know what the one play is that might make the difference."

On the crowd noise at
Clemson…

"To me, just about every stadium that we go into can get
loud enough to force you to do things. Once you hit a certain amount of
decibels, it could be ten times that and it still isn't going to matter because
you can't hear. But they definitely created enough noise to force us to go to a
sign cadence, which we knew going in. It wasn't a surprise."

"Douglas is going to practice this week, and we think he'll
be able to play. I don't know if he'll get in as a running back, but I think
(Todd) Gurley is fine, (Keith) Marshall is fine, J.J. Green is fine, and Green
and Douglas were kind of battling it out for that number three spot. We'll just
see how quickly he can go full speed. If he's full speed and we think he still
knows enough what to do, then we might give him a chance to play. He was also
being used on some special teams. It was getting to the point where we were
getting ready to trust him in those areas, so he's going to start getting reps
there again. He may end up playing some special teams."

On the depth chart
listing Garrison Smith at nose guard this week…

"I didn't even look at that. I never look at that. I don't
know what to make of it, quite frankly. Garrison will play both positions, but
it just depends on the situation. We really do roll our guys around a lot. It
just depends on the personnel group that we're playing and the matchups that we
think are going on. Garrison does a good job at nose, but a lot of time it's
just a matter of trying to get more agile pass rushers inside rather than the
big, run-stopping, space-eating guys."

On if he noticed
anything was wrong with Malcolm during the first TD celebration…

"We always celebrate the same way. We always have a little competition
to see who can jump higher, so everybody was thinking the same thing and no one
really even noticed until we got back over to the sideline that something was
wrong."

On how they will celebrate
touchdowns in the future…

"Of course, now everyone is a little more conscious about
it. It's kind of an unspoken that we're not going to do that anymore. We'll
find another way to celebrate, and it won't really take away from it, but we'll
definitely be more conscious about it so that we can prevent things like that
from happening again in the future."

On the receiver group
moving forward after Malcolm Mitchell's injury…

"We've got guys who are talented, guys who can make plays in
different positions. We still feel that way. You know Malcolm was a huge playmaker,
a huge leader in the receiving corps and he will be missed. But I don't think
this will slow the offense down. I think we'll get stronger. We'll have
opportunities for young guys to step up and make plays. It's unfortunate, but
having this depth at the position will allow someone else who's prepared
themselves to step up."

TE Arthur Lynch

On how the team will
game plan for Clowney…

"I help with all defensive ends every week. It's kind of
just what I do from the tight end position. Not just me, but all the tight
ends. I don't think we'll game plan any different. We'll acknowledge the fact
that he's a very good player, and that we have to account for him in our
process for how we are going to block certain things, but I don't think we'll
have to alter our game plan to where we get out of our comfort zone."

On the team's response
following Saturday's loss…

"I think we knew it would have been nice to win the game,
but I think we hurt ourselves more than they hurt us, if that makes sense. We
gave up eight penalties, most were on third down, and you don't recover from
them. You turn the ball over twice, you are going to lose the ball game. The
fact that we only lost by three says a lot about our offense and the team
overall. I think a lot of guys on the defensive side of the ball got a lot of
experience, and a lot of guys stepped up. I think we're in a lot better frame
of mind than most people think."

"I guess the only important stat is winning or losing, so it
really wasn't that great of a day. A lot of the guys grew up pretty quickly out
there. I was happy to see how Brendan Langley played out there in the
secondary, Tray Matthews as well. Those guys are growing up and they're
learning a lot. We learned a lot yesterday when we were watching the film so
we're just trying to correct the mistakes and get ready for Saturday.'"

On communicating with
freshman S Tray Matthews…

"It was pretty consistent over the whole game. We were
communicating every play pretty much whether it be him communicating over to me
or me communicating to him. It's usually safety-to-safety and then the safety
will communicate to their corner. It was pretty good over the entire game.
Obviously with the hurry up offense like Clemson had it had to be a little bit
quicker so we were trying to catch up to that pace but overall Tray did a great
job."

On comparing South
Carolina's offense to Clemson's offense…

"Clemson is a heavy pass offense, they're hurry up but South
Carolina is a great offense also. They line it up a little more and run it
right at you. In that sense they have a really good running game and a great
offensive line to do that. Not saying Clemson didn't but they spread the ball
out more and throw it around more than South Carolina does."

SE Justin
Scott-Wesley

On being named captain
for the South Carolina game…

"That's big. That's big for me. That's one of my greatest
achievements, to be a captain for the University of Georgia. I'm definitely
honored."

"I just have to be consistent. I don't want to be a one-hit
wonder. I know people are going to know who I am and try to game plan for me,
so I just have to come out and be consistent."

On whether or not he
feels any added pressure with Malcolm being injured…

"I don't feel any pressure. I feel like Coach Ball puts
pressure on us everyday. If you know what it's like playing under Coach Ball,
the game is fun. Practice is the most pressure."

DL Garrison Smith

On switching from
Defensive End to Nose Guard…

"I do it all. I'm like the handy man, I'll do anything it
takes to get the job done. I played mostly at the Nose [on Saturday]. It's all
football for me. Wherever the coaches want me to play at. Whatever it takes to make
the team win, then I'm not worried about my stats or anything like that. I'm
all about winning and I'm all about the team. Big team, little me."

On how badly he wants
to beat South Carolina, being 0-3 against them in his career…

"You want every game bad. We don't like losses and I don't
like losing. Nobody likes losing. We just have to go out there and do the best
we can and try and get the W."

On the mentality that
Georgia's season starts over on Saturday…

"I feel like since its conference play it's definitely way
more important, but at the same time every game is important. We just want to
do the best we can and try and get a victory."